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QuoteI wanted to ask for survival tips in case I am unexpectedly transported to a random location in Europe (say for instance current France/Benelux/Germany) in the year 1000 AD (plus or minus 200 years). I assume that such transportation would leave me with what I am wearing, what I know, and nothing else. Any advice would help.

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/margi ... l-bac.html (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/06/time-travel-bac.html)

I read this question a few days ago and I've been pondering it quite a bit. Could I change history? Should I change history? Would I even be able to locate other people? Would I be burned as a heretic for washing? Would I bring back a simple flu and be the Typhoid Mary of the 1000s?

What do you think could happen and how do you think you'd respond to this odd turn of events?

I would get my hands on a giant German zwei-hander sword, learn how to use it and become a sell-sword. Maybe make a glorious end for myself breaking a cavalry charge somewhere :-D

Quote from: "Asmodean"I would get my hands on a giant German zwei-hander sword, learn how to use it and become a sell-sword. Maybe make a glorious end for myself breaking a cavalry charge somewhere :-D

Middle German is a very interesting language. While I fancy myself useful with modern German, I'm not sure how well I'd do learning Middle German.

Let’s play the game.
As you mentioned, and instant exchange of diseases will occur, you giving them those evolved in the last thousand years, you acquiring the still lively ones from that time. Neither you nor them are prepared for the consequences. Ask the old native Americans when they encountered the Europeans (even though for geographical reasons the Europeans were well off prepared for diseases than the Americans).
Suppose for the sake of the story that you survive and  so do most of them. ¿Do you have the real, sounding, profound, step by step, right to the earth knowledge to really gives them new practical things? I mean, we all “think” we know a lot of stuff, but we don’t at the base of it.  We â€"if we are lucky or studied enough- know a substantial deal of a part. Maybe you are really a genius that content enormous amount of information, then you could really change things. If the fortune is with you. And know, you telling them that the earth is round will not lighten them at all. Au contraire.
Remember that people there lived without the essentials â€"no clean water, no sanitation at all, no antibiotics, no nothing- when you instead have been treated with medicine all your life, even for not life threatening things. For those people having lice was as normal as breathing. Having all the teeth was a strange luxury after the youth. So, you also have to live on those environmental conditions even if you were rich, thing that we know you will not be.
You will not understand not be able to express in their languages. Unless you are a studious guy of the ancient languages, and even if you were, you could not know for a fact the real pronunciation. So you will be for a long time trying to jabber something in order to survive, and no, no one cares if you die and you rot in the middle of a muddy street. If you became too eager to make your marvelous points out, you will be treated as the mad man who speak a language no one knows and who is unaware of all the proper customs of the Christians of that period, local superstitions included.
Your knowledge about the pattern of sciences could be excellent but utterly heretics. You could not express anything remotely blasphemous without covering it up with a pious cape of religion. And then, to whom are you going to tell? The most prepared people of the time were in fact religious people, as the monks. So, or you marry to religion  and disguise yourself as a for God’s blessed intelligent guy, or you just shut the mouth up. We are assuming here that your intelligence is something that exceed the average guy. The problem is all of us tend to think the same thing. And guess what.
Suppose you have took advantage of your brilliant XXI century brain â€"so to speak- and you create a “crazy” sect of people that convenes with your ideas â€"that could not be atheistic cause it would be too much to ask for such people-, are you ready to die and send to die that people in the most brutal and pitiless way because you think you are so special? I mean, you could became a military genius and prevail, but are you? Do you have the basic knowledge of that period arsenal or the practical improvements needed to make a step by step advantage? You could try, but remember that your life span will be way too shorter than what you would have in the present times. And by the way, you would have to be magnetic with your personality and voice and very convincing in order to make other people to follow you, it doesn’t matter how wise you are if you can’t make them fall for you.
Suppose you think you could court the powerful people â€"the nobles, the church- with some kind of wonders, witch one do you know? Have you got any -easy and effective and not suspicious of witchcraft- medicine you could be famed for? If so, you could get closer to those in power. But those in the power could kill you because you made a reverential mistake or just fearful of your abilities. Or those close to the power could kill you just out of jealousy.
Not only that, you could discover that many people claims to know much more than you do, and many people sell and propel the use of “medicines” some of them utterly ridiculous but completely embedded on their culture. Can you change that overnight? (Overnight is your short life). Suppose for a fact that you can, just related on sanitation. Your story will mingle with hundred of miraculous stories that dwell in such magic times, remember that people were illiterates and unable to distinguish between practical success and pure God (or devil) influence on everybody’s fate.
This list can continue, but the point is, unless you are an encyclopedia into a strong and disease proof body that also can learn extremely fast and have the tact, charisma, patience, personality and sagacity to mingle and stand out for good, it would be very hard that you could change things as they were. Historically speaking that is. Ok, you can tell me you could kill a king to change history or something, but guess what, that also was very frequent stuff so you would have to make the queue to gain a name. Lol.
Nice to play this game with you!

Quote from: "Willravel"

Quote from: "Asmodean"I would get my hands on a giant German zwei-hander sword, learn how to use it and become a sell-sword. Maybe make a glorious end for myself breaking a cavalry charge somewhere :-D

Middle German is a very interesting language. While I fancy myself useful with modern German, I'm not sure how well I'd do learning Middle German.

Yeah... I see the problem, but I'm quick when it comes to learning languages. Not quite so quick in learning swords. But since I'm a pretty useless farmer (I can, but I hate doing it all - from planting things to milking things) and no more than a half-hearted craftsman, mercenarism would likely quickly become my only option.

Lexx jumped in feet first.

So what would I do? If the placement of drop-off is truly random, there's no way you're going to be anywhere near people. At the very, very most there were 30 million people in Europe around 1000AD. That's about equivalent to Montana. This would present good news so far as avoiding spreading your own diseases. Pragmatism dictates solitude in order to maintain the low risk of exposing 21st century disease.

First, I'd need to cover basic necessities: shelter, food, clean water, safety. This means a lot of activity on the first day. I'd need to create a makeshift shelter as quickly as possible, locate dry tinder, and make sure that these are on higher ground, near a water source. If I'm very fortunate, I can locate a clean stream that's fed from a clean source.

Second, I'd need to locate easy food, which generally means insects. I'm not partial to eating insects, but hunger is the best spice and I'd hopefully learn quickly. Most insects have protein, which I would need to stay alive. Of course eventually, I'll be needing protein, fats, and carbohydrates, along with a variety of vitamins and minerals. One cannot live on grubs. I'd probably need to hunt, considering I'm not familiar with what berries and such are or are not poisonous. Veggies and fruits possible available would vary greatly depending on where I was dropped off, so I'd have to play that by ear. I happen to be a decent fisherman, though I do have to wonder how difficult spear-hunting would be in comparison to fly fishing. Assuming I'm very lucky, I can catch a few fish, gut them, pike them, and cook them over a fire.

Third, I'd need to create a permanent residence. I'd need to locate reasonably high ground with a decent foundation near fresh water. Then it's time to dig. Using flat rocks, I'm thinking maybe a 15'x15' square, maybe 2' down. With the dirt excavated, I would create a barrier around the hole, and pack it down well. After this, it's time to start developing tools. Let's be honest, the average person can't forge an axe, so I'd need to make stone axes. This will take time. I'd need to locate stones made up of strong enough material to actually chop wood, which probably means a dense volcanic or igneous rock like basalt, diorite, granite, or quartzite. Good news: I'm in Europe. One of the reasons Europe was able to move ahead of many other areas where humans developed was the easy access to mine-able materials. But really, most of this will be trial and error.

While this is going on, hunting and planting need to be going on. One would need to try and establish a garden as soon as possible so one wouldn't have to rely on foraging indefinitely. I'd ideally like to have nuts, berries, and vegetables... but I'll take what I can get.

The construction would have to be simple. I'd plant 4 large logs in each corner as deep as possible and pack them down with rocks and soil. Then I'd lay down logs horizontally between each of the 4 supports with soil in between each. It would be best for me to try and locate a loam high in clay in order to make sure that the logs were secure and in order to keep me separated from the elements.

Sitting here thinking about it, the only way to make a roof would be tons of sapling poles woven across with tree bark sown in like shingles. I'd have to do a lot of layers of this, which would likely take months. I remember reading about native American longhouse construction when I was in grammar school, and that's basically how they did it.

Heating would be interesting. I'd clearly have to build a fireplace of some kind, which means a lot of rocks and some more of that clay loam. As I think of it, there's usually plenty of clay near streams, so I might catch a break there. I happen to have experience building stone walls from when I did landscaping (which I could also use to water my crops, hmm...), so I am relatively confident that I could construct a decent fireplace. I'd definitely have the chimney pointing in the opposite direction of my wood house and kindling roof.

If I am extremely lucky, I'll live a few decades.

Willravel you could run with advantage over most of us mainly urban people.
Even though â€"and this is not mean to be harsh, just a funny anecdote- all what you recounted reminded me about a “survival man” that has his own reality show on T.V.. I don’t remember his name, but yes, this guy was the sly guy and he was tough. So tough and wise. So tough and “You know I lived with the Indians at the U.S.A. stuff”. “And I know how to make a bow and an arrow out of nothing” tale.  He was supposed to survive  just one week into the Amazon forest.  Imagine, the Amazon, wow, food falling from everywhere, just toss a stone and you will kill some animal to eat. Sort of. Well. Thing is â€"I can’t avoid laughing everytime I remember it- that he could catch not even a rat. He could not fish not even a piranha. Well, I’m lying, he ate eagerly a couple of dirty and squalid bugs and a single rare fruit that happened to be there by chance. At any step, day after day he was like “you know, now I’m gonna  do this magic Indian trick and I gonna get plenty of this stuff, because of this and because of that. Rain pouring from the sky like a deluge. Nothing. He was ate alive by bugs he didn’t even know how to name. He acquired a infectious fungus disease on one foot. Hurtful and getting worse day after day (wet climate is horrible for that). So, to resume, this extremely “I know everything to survive and I will teach you” guy, ended up scared as a poor creature â€"to add humiliation to his ordeal a jaguar was roaring from the dark around and was not familiar neither afraid of humans- hungry, with diarrhea, and with a foot disease that could have ended up â€"under real situation- with a gangrene or even death. He had to go for help where the TV backup team was, a couple of miles away, camping with the local Indians.
The Indians of the Amazon â€"just remind that the Amazon is one of the richest ecological zones in the world- know the ropes on how to survive, how to take shelter, how to hunt and fish, etcetera. And they know it after generations and generations of cultural learning. This “I know and I will teach you guy” didn’t. And he wasn’t doing the show because he was a kind of mythomaniac, he didn’t fall there out of the blue.  
So guess what Willravel, I think you could do a great job, I don’t doubt it. And I would be lucky if I were with you to help me out in such a fantastic situation.  But sooner or later I think you could need humans to tell you how to improve your life. Or kill you for being such a strange intruder.
But even so, one of the question was “Could you change the history of that age”. And I think you responded that.
If it happened to me â€"Ok, time travel is not possible, lets concede- I think I would do much worse than you, that’s no doubt. Necessity is the mother of heresy, so no matter how much I had promised myself not to contact the locals, I suppose I would end up taking the risk. So, -at the end of the day- it’s a parallel universe â€"has to be- , then this are not my  great great grandparents. Lol. By the way, I think I could â€"luckily- live for a couple of years, :eek:

Man, it's like Les Stroud got a show on the History Channel in here!  

That's the guy! Les Stroud. I've seen him on the -now went awry- Discovery Channel. So he was a musician too. Now I understand  why in the middle of the Amazon he tried to soothe himself with a -I think makeshift- flute. Lol. I thought "this guy must have seen Kung Fu the series when he was a kid".

Quote from: "Willravel"Middle German is a very interesting language. While I fancy myself useful with modern German, I'm not sure how well I'd do learning Middle German.

Here's a little verse I made up in Middle High German many years ago:

Ich saz uf der toilette mere danne ein jar
Papier ich da enhette, ezn was niht papier da.
Owe, mir ist diu hose vol
Ich enweiz, wie ich si wischen sol.

Load of crap, really.

I would totally attend a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with the first crusaders in 1095.

I would also just drink my way through Christiandom, tasting early monastic beers.

Another idea... Hows about finding a remote society, starting up a new religion, training the buggers in sneaky warfare and waging a holy war on Christendom?

Maybe even get a chance to kill your own great^x-grandpa before he met your great^x grandma and find out just what the grandpa paradox is all about  

Quote from: "Asmodean"Another idea... Hows about finding a remote society, starting up a new religion, training the buggers in sneaky warfare and waging a holy war on Christendom?

Like Muhammad?

Quote from: "Willravel"

Quote from: "Asmodean"Another idea... Hows about finding a remote society, starting up a new religion, training the buggers in sneaky warfare and waging a holy war on Christendom?

Like Muhammad?

Yes. Somewhat.  Although my holy war would probably succeed.  

Quote from: "Asmodean"Yes. Somewhat.  Although my holy war would probably succeed.  

OH SNAP. Take that, Muhammad.

Quote from: "Willravel"

Quote from: "Asmodean"Yes. Somewhat.  Although my holy war would probably succeed.  :raised: Did Asmoday, the prince of Hell with his 72 legions of demons just pwn a prophet!? ( )

Well, if the premise stands â€"that is, you are thrown there without any preparation- then also stands the lengthy troubles that I mentioned before, including the battle skill things.
But if you can have a small advantage, lets say a minimal great one â€"in a good Terminator way you can’t get back anything  with you but your astonishingly beautiful naked body, lol.  
I don’t think we could easily form and army unless our success exceeds our expectations and â€"as long as we were seem as a menace for Christendom and not just another feud between nobles or kings- we could face a huge coalition to wipe us from the map. And no, they would have no contemplations at all, even if it meant to wipe up all the inhabitants of our now unsacred land. Remember what Arnaud Amalric said in the siege of Béziers on how to distinguish Albigensians from Catholics:  "Kill them all; for the Lord knoweth them that are His".

Well, I would most certainly take with me my somewhat limited skills in geology and my somewhat greater skills in chemistry and a couple of other skills, then I'd seduce some minor lordling to be his lover or ingratiate myself to some blasphemer of a king as his "alchemist" and then plot and scheme for years about how to come to power while mass-producing explosives. And then I'd use my explosives to come to power. Imagine an old school catapult shooting a 10 kilo grenade. Now imagine 100 such catapults hammering 10 kilo grenades upon the enemy forces... :D

Basically, my plan would be long term and simplified could be described as coming in a position of power, training men in warfare, other than the glorious charge at the field (like sniping them wih crossbows in cities and woods), making tons and tons of probabl nitroglycerine based explosives (make it stable with coal or sugar), waging WAAAR!!!  

*plotting world domination*

Oh, Asmoean, now I see how much better you could turn the ancient world with such a great amount of love.   . My goodness, didn’t count on having a geologist in the forum. Hey, that’s not fair. Well prepared people would have it easer compared with us, just empty brained people. Hey, we also deserve to rule. I mean, we always have done it . Why to distort the past with an intelligent guy/girl? This goes against human natural process of dumbness. Well, besides, at least you can adorn your achievements by improving the mining with all that explosives.

Haha, I'm no geologist. I do however have an interest in geology and chemistry and right now I'm studying engineering so physics is not a foreign subject to me either... The point is I can identify the minerals I need to suit my evil purpose. I could probably even identify magnesium ore for gun barrel steel, but metallurgy is not my strongest side. Thus, grenades and fire bombs. I'm really good with making things blow up. Should have been a pyrotechnician... Oh well... Life, you know...

As for making a better world, why after I've run out of explosives I'd work on that. *scheming and plotting*

No, seriously, I think if I combined my talents with what charisma I can scrape together, I'd get pretty far in that day and age. Even if my crusade would prove to be an unreachable goal and the papacy would label me a thousand kinds of heretic, I'd still do well, considering... I think...

Survival tips for going to the year 1000? Hm? Medieval history would never be the same if they knew what we know.

First: don’t drink the water. Potable water would be at a premium beyond the knowledge of most at that time. Standing water, most wells, you wouldn’t drink from. The danger could be great even from running streams. Any drink with even the slightest amount of alcohol would be far safer to drink. Skoal!

Second, don’t drink the water. (It’s really that important.) Next, food. If you’re lucky, you wouldn’t want to get there in July. That would be the worst month for starvation with the edible food supply at its ebb. Winter supplies gone, harvest not ready.

Basic survival: water, food, tools and weapons, fire, how to build shelter, knowledge of first aid. Have as many immunizations as possible beforehand. Know how to find clean water. Know basic foods available in the woods, how to identify them, how to prepare and preserve them. Know how to hunt â€" simple traps, bow and arrows, and snares for small animals and birds â€" don’t sweat it about larger game unless you know how to tan hides and preserve meat. The excess would rot too easily and attract predators like wolves. Have a knowledge of what tools are available or easily made, how to use them, how to keep them in working order. Know how to make fire (a handy skill even today). Know the appropriate shelter for where you are and how to prepare and maintain a warm, dry habitat. First aid speaks for itself. Oh, and disease identification. You wouldn’t want to catch the plague.

Learn how to watch the weather, find your direction, and how to travel safely. Basic old time Boy Scout skills would be extremely helpful for survival.

Language. If you know your destination, prepare with language studies. Know habits, customs, and superstitions of indigenous people.

Learn as much of the history of the place and time as possible. You might want to set yourself up as a learned man and use upcoming events to your advantage. Otherwise, apply the Prime Directive to keep from screwing up history.

Feudalism is in its rise. You would either be fief, slave, or hermit in the woods because of primogeniture. And forget about an instant “in” with the church that was full of those royal enough to have name and education but not land and power. Everything belonged to royalty or the church. This includes all manner of labor, learning and industry. If you’re trying to work your way into a noble’s graces, knowledge of simple machines (lever, wheel and axle, pulley, ramp, wedge, and screw), construction of war machinery, or even medicine could help. The more knowledge in the right noble’s grasp could ensure your survival.

Remember anachronistic ideas will not come to fruition in the times you’re now living. You can’t make a forty-five with basic chemistry for gunpowder (the basic components and percentage of ingredients most people do not know) and metallurgy for manufacturing the components of the firearm. It’s a lot more complicated. Warmongers could not create a neurotoxin but they could use diseases to make biological weapons. (A chunk of rotting meat from someone who died of the plague in the town’s water supply would do the trick.) You couldn’t build an airplane but you could balloons and gliders.

The Vikings still terrorized Europe. (It was good to be a barbarian!) But they were not survivalists since they lived off the wealth of others. Other than that the barbaric invasions were over, minor kingdoms prevailed, and the church controlled them worse than Isildur’s Bane.

You didn’t quite say enough for the scenario but let’s assume we have enough warning or planning before our trip. (If it’s not a freak rip through the space/time continuum but a planned trip, that is.) If possible, avoid as much contact with locals since it could screw up history’s time line.  (If it is a ‘freak trip’, then do what you have to for survival.)

I'll clarify. You're driving home from work or walking to class and are transported with only your clothes. There is no time to prepare and you cannot bring back tools of any kind besides what you can do with your clothes.

Quote from: "Willravel"I'll clarify. You're driving home from work or walking to class and are transported with only your clothes. There is no time to prepare and you cannot bring back tools of any kind besides what you can do with your clothes.

Wow, that does make it more difficult. I guess the parts with any prior knowledge and survival skills or training would still apply. Other than that it would just rely on native ingenuity and rolling with the situation.

Still, it's a great concept to speculate on.

Quote from: "Smallville"Wow, that does make it more difficult. I guess the parts with any prior knowledge and survival skills or training would still apply. Other than that it would just rely on native ingenuity and rolling with the situation.

Still, it's a great concept to speculate on.

Oh, yeah. It's supposed to be nearly impossible. It also sounds like a decent plot for a science fiction anthology.

Quote from: "Willravel"Oh, yeah. It's supposed to be nearly impossible. It also sounds like a decent plot for a science fiction anthology.

Have you read Timeline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_(novel)) by Michael Crichton?  

The book has quite a few of the elements you've mentioned in this thread (with a bunch of science fiction elements thrown in).  It's one of my favorite books.

No way I'd survive for very long being wisked back to 1000 A.D.  I'd either starve, get sick, or piss off the wrong person.

The secret of a good preparation? Grasp Asmodean and Willravel hands tightly at every time in hope that if it happens, you are thrown back with any of them or both. Hey, don’t say it’s not possible. What if this anomaly happened to Siameses? Ah, and I forgot Smallville. I still think that at the end of the day we are just people with an enormous XXI century chauvinism, based on other peoples merits that we don’t even scratch the surface, and less know how to mimic. Ok, just say a prayer, . It would be funny to see how well we would manage in the down to the earth daily survival.
By the way, Smallville was true about alcohol and water. The Greeks used to drink watered wine and -indirectly- they avoided many contaminants.

Quote from: "MommaSquid"Have you read Timeline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_(novel)) by Michael Crichton?  

The book has quite a few of the elements you've mentioned in this thread (with a bunch of science fiction elements thrown in).  It's one of my favorite books.

I made the horrible mistake of seeing the movie first. It basically presents the plot (ruining the book) and presents it horribly. It's like watching the 80s version of Dune before reading the Frank Herbert version.

When it comes to water, the access would greatly depend on your location. Here, for instance, we don't filter drinking water and survive just fine.

Still... I'd have to develop a filtration system in other areas so as not to give the troops free reign over the kegs... Wouldn't want my grenade catapults to be operated by a bunch of alcoholized guys who couldn't aim at their own noses...  

Water filtration techniques available in 1000AD:
Sedimentation
Boiling
Distillation

I would think that combining all three would be your best bet. Sedimentation can remove larger particles, boiling can kill microorganisms, and distillation can separate the water from solutes. What you may have issues with are contaminants with a similar boiling point to water. One could contract Pontiac fever or another form of Legionnaires' disease from long term distillation, but there's no evidence that bacteria existed more than a few decades ago, let alone a thousand years ago.

Quote from: "Willravel"Water filtration techniques available in 1000AD:
Sedimentation
Boiling
Distillation

I would think that combining all three would be your best bet. Sedimentation can remove larger particles, boiling can kill microorganisms, and distillation can separate the water from solutes. What you may have issues with are contaminants with a similar boiling point to water. One could contract Pontiac fever or another form of Legionnaires' disease from long term distillation, but there's no evidence that bacteria existed more than a few decades ago, let alone a thousand years ago.

Yes, combining the three techniques is the best bet, however, distilling water for, say, 10 000 men is too grandiose a project with tools awailable at that time. So sedimentation and boiling would have to do.

Still, as long as you managed to stay away from sights of epidemic outbreaks and take reasonable precautions, I don't think water or food or air for that matter would kill you any time soon. What would be more likely to kill you is the lack of food or water. And the ancestors, naturally. As I understand, many of them did not suffer weird strangers lightly.

Quote from: "Asmodean"Yes, combining the three techniques is the best bet, however, distilling water for, say, 10 000 men is too grandiose a project with tools [available] at that time. So sedimentation and boiling would have to do.

Still, as long as you managed to stay away from sights of epidemic outbreaks and take reasonable precautions, I don't think water or food or air for that matter would kill you any time soon. What would be more likely to kill you is the lack of food or water. And the ancestors, naturally. As I understand, many of them did not suffer weird strangers lightly.

10,000 men? I was really just talking about taking care of yourself in the immediate.

Actually, distillation could be worked into an aqueduct. Hmmm...Got it.

One would construct a dual aqueduct, with one side facing the sun and the other side shielded. The aqueduct on the left will have water, but will be heated by the sun and evaporate, gathering on the cool side and dripping down. This would have to happen over many, many miles, but it could produce quite a bit of distilled water.
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg266.imageshack.us%2Fimg266%2F6839%2Faqueductxh6.th.jpg&hash=dceddcb25f566cbc45b2cf8e99707d0988640300)

Quote from: "Willravel"

Quote from: "Asmodean"Yes, combining the three techniques is the best bet, however, distilling water for, say, 10 000 men is too grandiose a project with tools [available] at that time. So sedimentation and boiling would have to do.

Still, as long as you managed to stay away from sights of epidemic outbreaks and take reasonable precautions, I don't think water or food or air for that matter would kill you any time soon. What would be more likely to kill you is the lack of food or water. And the ancestors, naturally. As I understand, many of them did not suffer weird strangers lightly.

10,000 men? I was really just talking about taking care of yourself in the immediate.

Actually, distillation could be worked into an aqueduct. Hmmm...Got it.

One would construct a dual aqueduct, with one side facing the sun and the other side shielded. The aqueduct on the left will have water, but will be heated by the sun and evaporate, gathering on the cool side and dripping down. This would have to happen over many, many miles, but it could produce quite a bit of distilled water.
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg266.imageshack.us%2Fimg266%2F6839%2Faqueductxh6.th.jpg&hash=dceddcb25f566cbc45b2cf8e99707d0988640300)

Aye, that's an idea. Although you have to remember the fact that my glorious army would have to be mobile. And aqueducts tend to be... Well... Stationary. (Curse them!)

As for the immediate, yes, of course, number one comes first. However, in order for my plan to work, keeping that number one alive alone will not get you far.  

Quote from: "Willravel"

Quote from: "Smallville"Wow, that does make it more difficult. I guess the parts with any prior knowledge and survival skills or training would still apply. Other than that it would just rely on native ingenuity and rolling with the situation.

Still, it's a great concept to speculate on.

Oh, yeah. It's supposed to be nearly impossible. It also sounds like a decent plot for a science fiction anthology.

You know Willravel, there is an entire GENRE of Scottish time travel romance novels. Where either a Scottish warrior gets transported to our time, or a lovely modern woman gets transported to their time. I only know because my mom went through a phase when I was in high school. It's almost like a porn fetish for the people that are into them. I always had a knack for flipping through the pages and finding the sex scene. It frequently involved a kilt and an unsheathed broad-sword.  

Scottish? I've gotta admit, that's different. The scenario presented in this thread seems to be the opposite, but don't expect me to go sticking my goliath where it doesn't belong.

Quote from: "myleviathan"You know Willravel, there is an entire GENRE of Scottish time travel romance novels. Where either a Scottish warrior gets transported to our time, or a lovely modern woman gets transported to their time

...So that they can inevitably meet and so that the woman can admire his claymore?  lol[/quote]
Ah. Suspected as much.  :D

Hey, I know the first priority here was just the mere survival. But wouldn’t it be gorgeous if we â€"somehow, I know, I know- get to be privileged witnesses of the now extinct marvelous species like the Giant Moa  from the â€"still undiscovered- New Zealand?
Hey, get scientifically romantic too. We could also find still undestroyed jewels from classic antiquity. Well, to whom are we gonna tell. But we can make records no one did. Ok, I also know Indiana Jones is going for a rerun.

Quote from: "Asmodean"

Quote from: "Willravel"

Quote from: "Asmodean"Another idea... Hows about finding a remote society, starting up a new religion, training the buggers in sneaky warfare and waging a holy war on Christendom?

Like Muhammad?

Yes. Somewhat.  Although my holy war would probably succeed.  

And who says atheists are no fun!

Quote from: "Lexxvs"Hey, I know the first priority here was just the mere survival. But wouldn’t it be gorgeous if we â€"somehow, I know, I know- get to be privileged witnesses of the now extinct marvelous species like the Giant Moa  from the â€"still undiscovered- New Zealand?
Hey, get scientifically romantic too. We could also find still undestroyed jewels from classic antiquity. Well, to whom are we gonna tell. But we can make records no one did. Ok, I also know Indiana Jones is going for a rerun.

Lexxvs! Excellent point. I feel ashamed that I didn't realize this.

Going back to 1000 AD to be a "naturalist" would be the chance of a lifetime. With a modern understanding of biology one could make discoveries that would normally be completely impossible. Scientifically romantic, indeed!  

Quote from: "Willravel"

Quote from: "Lexxvs"Hey, I know the first priority here was just the mere survival. But wouldn’t it be gorgeous if we â€"somehow, I know, I know- get to be privileged witnesses of the now extinct marvelous species like the Giant Moa  from the â€"still undiscovered- New Zealand?
Hey, get scientifically romantic too. We could also find still undestroyed jewels from classic antiquity. Well, to whom are we gonna tell. But we can make records no one did. Ok, I also know Indiana Jones is going for a rerun.

Lexxvs! Excellent point. I feel ashamed that I didn't realize this.

Going back to 1000 AD to be a "naturalist" would be the chance of a lifetime. With a modern understanding of biology one could make discoveries that would normally be completely impossible. Scientifically romantic, indeed!  :D And maybe if I had such a chance, people would have had colonies on Mars today.  :unsure: In any case, as interesting as past is, I'd much rather travel 1 000 years into future. Even to find a lifeless rock, I'd still take that chance.

Well, with nothing but beer or wine to drink, or maybe some very rancid goats milk, i think i'd get terribly ill quite quickly. So, my first task would be to build some kind of basic water filtration system. You can do this by layering sand then fine shingle, small pebbles, then larger pebbles into a container with small holes on the underside. Pour stream water in slowly then boil what comes out the bottom to have some odd-tasting, but drinkable water.

I'd then make a shelter as camouflaged as possible. At this early stage i'd really not want to come into contact with anyone at all! Even though people of that era may seem backward by our current standards, they still had weapons, and were bloody good at using them. Some of the skeletons of knights found in tombs showed them to have enormous frames with the kind of wear and tear on their joints to suggest absolutely enormous loads were burdened on them daily. Far, far more than any human these days is used to.

I'd have to think about what would give me an edge. I know that right up until the 1690's, vegetables were considered non nutritious and bad for you (can't really remember why, but think it might have something to do with them growing under the ground). So, because of this, people's staple diets were basically meat and ferns. Because of this, i'd start growing a LOT of vegetables. I'd also catch me some chickens, make sure they procreate and start a little farm in the middle of nowhere. I'd teach the locals with the virtues of eating well and healthily. Once i'd gained the trust of some locals i'd then start my experiments. I'd also reinvent the toothbrush

Electricity. That is the key. It would be fairly simple to make, too. Windmills and water mills were in abundance 1000 years ago. Usually these were used to crush grain for flour. It wouldn't be difficult to wrap any crank shaft in copper wire to make a generator. the hardest thing to create would be the copper wire itself. Copper was around then but not in huge quantities due to the difficulty in extracting it from ore. Copper isn't an easily malleable metal but it can work. I'm sure i'd be able to crack an efficient process with the help of a good blacksmith.

I'd make sure i get settled into a community which isn't completely insane over God (i'm sure these communities did exist back then). I'd be kind to them and help them all with their daily lives if i could. I'd soon curry favour with the locals to the point that, if i asked for something, i'd get it and if i needed protection, i'd also get it.

I'm sure i'd be able to come up with many more (re) inventions but the best ideas usually come under pressure. I've got a very inquisitive mind and i love experimentation and i'm sure my memory recall would remember stuff from physics and chemistry lessons long forgotten. One of my long-term goals would be to invent gun-powder.

I love interesting hypothetical questions like this.

Sorry to say, but I think I'd be dead.  I had a relatively serious illness when I was a child, and without modern medicine I'd have probably kicked the bucket!  If I somehow survived, well, with nothing but beer and wine to drink there'd be plenty of vocational opportunity for an ale-maker, so that's what I'd be up to.  Might have less stress than my current job, too.....

Quote from: "Asmodean"

Quote from: "Willravel"

Quote from: "Lexxvs"Hey, I know the first priority here was just the mere survival. But wouldn’t it be gorgeous if we â€"somehow, I know, I know- get to be privileged witnesses of the now extinct marvelous species like the Giant Moa  from the â€"still undiscovered- New Zealand?
Hey, get scientifically romantic too. We could also find still undestroyed jewels from classic antiquity. Well, to whom are we gonna tell. But we can make records no one did. Ok, I also know Indiana Jones is going for a rerun.

Lexxvs! Excellent point. I feel ashamed that I didn't realize this.

Going back to 1000 AD to be a "naturalist" would be the chance of a lifetime. With a modern understanding of biology one could make discoveries that would normally be completely impossible. Scientifically romantic, indeed!  :D And maybe if I had such a chance, people would have had colonies on Mars today.  :unsure: In any case, as interesting as past is, I'd much rather travel 1 000 years into future. Even to find a lifeless rock, I'd still take that chance.

World domination at that time (A.D. 1000) would be difficult with the limited technology and resources available. Aside from some siege equipment standards left over from Greek and Roman times the most innovative weapon would be the recent crossbow. Gears and pulleys were the most advanced mechanisms. Communication was word of mouth since most did not know how to read and write. Then there's the matter of paying troops (pillaging only lasts so long), competition from the earliest crusades, and, of course, a long run of plagues.

SteveS made me think...  What about all the zillions of nasty bugs that you'd have no immunity to?  You could take antibiotics, of course, but what about the viruses?
Take loads of bog-paper, plenty of spare underwear and a crate of tissues.

There was plenty of moss around back then... Wouldn't take much to make a batch of penicillin

Quote from: "karadan"Electricity. That is the key. It would be fairly simple to make, too. Windmills and water mills were in abundance 1000 years ago. Usually these were used to crush grain for flour. It wouldn't be difficult to wrap any crank shaft in copper wire to make a generator. the hardest thing to create would be the copper wire itself. Copper was around then but not in huge quantities due to the difficulty in extracting it from ore. Copper isn't an easily malleable metal but it can work. I'm sure i'd be able to crack an efficient process with the help of a good blacksmith.

Yeah, um, good luck with that. I don't mean to be negative, but you're talking about a VERY difficult process. I have pretty advanced schooling in many sciences, but I'd never even hope to try and mine and process it myself.
http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/copperm.htm (http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/copperm.htm)

Quote from: "karadan"There was plenty of moss around back then... Wouldn't take much to make a batch of penicillin

Foodstuff, actually, to produce the blue-green mold. And then you'd need microscopic confirmation of the mold to be certain it was penicillin.  There are a lot of different molds that grow on foods. Then you'd need to create a way of injecting it for the productive effect.